WARNING! SOME SWEARING IS PRESENT. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

“Ok, listen up! When you hit the ground, things are gonna already be hot! Keep your wits and weapon about you, and you’ll be ok.” Said a Photos lieutenant, standing in front of a plasma screen inside a briefing room. “Surface scans show the current survivors of 2nd platoon are in a heated firefight, and they’re not going to last much longer. For all their skill, these Xylanis Opairis boys can only do so much when they’re on their own. Your pod should land behind this wall here, to keep the fire off you while you disembark.” The screen, showing a live satellite feed of the battlefield, zoomed in on the aforementioned wall. “Give the Opairis elites cover so they can engage in hand-to-hand; the enemy won’t stand a chance.” The lieutenant finished.“I thought these Opairis troops were supposedly better trained and better equipped than we are. Why are we busting their asses out?” Asked one of the squad members, getting a grim look from the rest of his squad.“For all their training and equipment, when you’re outnumbered three to one, the advantage disappears. There aren’t even half as many Opairis troops in service today as there are of us. Now then, board up, the pod will drop soon.” The lieutenant explained. With that, the squad got up and prepared to board.When they were seated inside the drop pod, the hatches were closed, and with a pneumatic hiss, sealed them in from the bay.“So, Keysis, ready for your first firefight?” Asked the squad leader,“Ready? I’ve been itching to use this rifle sense I was deployed!” Said the newbie, Keysis,“That feeling will go away soon enough.” Said Tre’sast, the squad leader.“Prepare for launch in five…four…three….two…one.” The pod shook violently as it was shot from it’s chute by a trio of electromagnetic rails. For a second, the shaking stopped, as they cleared into space between the dreadnought and the planet below. Then it lurched as the engine kicked into life, shooting them off toward their destination. Once they got through the upper atmosphere, a quad set of retrorockets fired, slowing the pod down to a survivable velocity. Within a matter of seconds it hit the ground with frightening accuracy, sending dust, dirt, and already loose pieces of debris dozens of feet into the air. The harnesses holding the five Photos soldiers released, and they disembarked. Running down the ramp perpendicular to the courtyard wall, the five took cover. Keysis looked behind him, to a two-story building behind them. Plasma blasts and gyro-shells were coming from the window at another building across from it. Tre’sast ran to a break halfway down the wall, about 10 feet from him. He dropped to a crouch, the lower part of the wall covering him. He opened up full automatic on the building with the hostiles, finishing his burst off with a grenade. The rocket-propelled explosive soared into the window and exploded, sending a body and parts of the wall flying out the same window it entered. The heavy weapons expert of the squad, Per’seese, came up to the wall where the lieutenant was, who moved. Per’seese set his Plasma Strike Cannon on the wall slot, using the bipod for stability. He opened up on the building’s windows, trying to keep them from firing back.“Who the blazes are these guys?” Keysis asked.“Garan Separatists.” Tre’sast said, pulling back behind the wall after firing a burst from around the corner. “ Those damned rifles of theirs are fully automatic gyrojets. While they don’t have a huge punch, unlike our gyroweapons, they have a gigantic rate of fire, and getting hit will prolly’ incapacitate you. Keep your ass down.” He fired another grenade from his Carbine, the purple missile exploding brilliantly against the wall, crumbling it to the ground and opening one of the separatists to the automatic fire of the PSC. He was rippled by six or seven shots before falling out the opening. Keysis heard a “KISSH-THUNK” behind him. He turned around to see one of the Opairis elites running up from the structure they were occupying. “Thank the Creator you guys are here. Those accursed Separatists have cut off our armored column down the road, and their walkers are giving our tanks hell. They really should have sent Waratica troops for this.” He said, leaning out and firing a pair of shots from his pistol at the hostile-occupied building. “Listen, put that PSC up in the building, give us suppressive fire. We’ll do the rest.” The Elite said. Per’seese obliged, rising to his feet and folding up the bipod in one fluid movement, before sprinting off into the building. Tre’sast took his place, opening up full automatic again on the building, not letting the Separatists get back into a firing position. A few moments later the distinctive firing of the Plasma Strike Cannon resumed, given away by the stream of teal-blue plasma bolts raining forth from one of the windows in the structure.The other elites vacated the building and began to charge the structure, using cover and leapfrogging up. Finally, after managing to make it to the entrance, they went in. All shooting stopped from the enemy building. Several autopistol shots were heard, along with screaming and the goring sounds of someone getting hit with an Impulse Sword. Within a few minutes, the Elites emerged, not one of them even the slightest injured.“Glorious bastards…”Tre’sast said under his breath.

It's set pre-Nameless Invasion, but not that long ago. If you guys REALLY want, I change it from a story to an rp, but I think with A Journey Through SPACE! and the various Nameless RP's, that may not be a good idea.

"Ok," Said the Opairis lieutenant. "Our primary armored column is about a fourth of a mile up the road here, locked in combat by Separatist mechs. As you all have likely seen, most vehicles are no match for aforementioned walkers, be they ours or the Separatists'. There is a small group of Thanatoses about a half mile from the column; we just need to stall the Separatists long enough.""Thanatos? What's a Thanatos?" Asked Keysis."A Thanatos is a specially-built 120-ton tank armed with four Heavy Autocannons. It's for taking down mechs when we don't have access to mechs of our own. If they can get there in time, those Separatists won't know what hit them. Let's move." Said the Opairis Lieutenant. The group broke out to a jog, trying to cover ground while conserving their stamina. Not long after, the shots and explosions of the heated battle ahead could be heard."It sounds like there's a pair of armies duking it out up there, not a detachment!" Keysis commented."Yeah, most of those mechs are armed with as many weapons as their chassis' can hold. That's the main advantage of these mechs; they can carry a lot of weapons and ammunition and still pack better armor than most any tank. Of course, they're a lot bigger than most tanks too." Said Tre'sast."How much bigger?" Asked Keysis."Oh crap...you've never seen one of these things?" Tre'sast said, alarmed."Well...no, the colony I'm from didn't have a Waratica training center."Oh, you poor boy. Keep your head -and your ass- down. Their size will be overwhelming at first, but shake it off. You won't live to make a second mistake when you're around these behemoths. Watch the Strike Cannons in particular; these things usually have enough PSC's on them to level a small army.""Can I ask why we're taking these things on, not, say, our mechs?" Keysis asked."Because, much like your homeworld, this colony doesn't have it's on Waratica force, and the forestry is too dense on this continent to land Hothgar's, so we have to use combinations of tanks and infantry. We still can't figure out how the blazes the Separatists got them planetside, but hey, they're better at the whole titanic mech thing than we are, they've been using them longer. It's a real pain in the-" The lieutenant saw the tip of one of the mechs over the top of a building and signaled the squad to break up and take cover. They did so behind the ruins of several buildings. The towering behemoth strode into the center of the three-way street. Keysis was taken aback by the scale of the machine."It's an Umber, mostly missiles!" Tre'sast said. He fired a grenade at the Umber. It rocketed into the lower knee joint of the digitigrade mech, which staggered a slight amount, them rocket-propelled grenade hitting a vulnerable joint. It turned it's torso and lit up the three squads with it's low number of PSC's. Plasma shots scattered pieces of debris from the fallen walls with a storm of ping sounds.

"Damnit!" Tre'sast cursed, looking around. At least it's attention was on them, and not the convoy. There were two sounds, much akin to a high-pitched scream. Two bolts of aqua-color plasma slammed into the side of the mech, stumbling it into the side of a building, debris covering it. It tried to stand up but it's missile launcher was pinned underneath the full weight of the building."One of those tanks has a pair of Plasma Projectors!" Tre'sast said. Keysis started to run out from cover."Stay back, the chin turret is still free to aim!" Keysis pulled back a split second before the hail from two PSC's whizzed past the space he was a moment ago. A third Plasma Projector shot shattered the turret. The squad moved forward, the mech pilot scrambling desperately to free his mech. Tre'sast climbed up onto the mech and got to the cockpit and, using the butt of his Carbine, shattered the reinforced glass separating the pilot from the rest of the world."Hi, you're our prisoner now, and if you move I blow your brains out, capiche?" He nudge the pilot's shoulder with the barrel. Keysis looked down the street. Twisted remains of tanks and mechs lined the roadway. The heavy tank with the twin Plasma Projectors was rumbling down towards them. The top hatch popped open and out came the upper body of the gunner."Good thing you're here, we need a distraction for the rest of these mechs. The rest of the convoy is locked in combat with the 324th Separatist Heavy Arms Regiment down the road, and that pack of Thanatoses is a way off."Nice to know we're that valuable..." Keysis rolled his eyes at the term distraction.

The grouped infantry moved up, with the tank, to engage the remaining hostile mechs. They met up with a trio of tanks much like the one that took out the Umber, along with a pair of lighter AFV's. There were two more Umbers and an Opar on the opposite end of the street, harassing them with volley after volley of missiles. They weren't hitting anything but the ground, but still, it did a good job of throwing off your morale. One of the tanks swiveled the turret around and fired the twin Plasma Projectors, blowing off the arm of one Umber and putting a nice hole in the armor of said Umber with the other blast. The irritated pilot fired both his Heavy Lances and his Light Lances, damaging one of the tanks. The tanks collectively returned fire, the mass of Plasma Projectors utterly destroying it, the reactor going critical.(sorry for doing this in small chunks, guys)

(Restarting this, because I feel like it.)Tre'sast and his squad began moving through the ruined buildings, flanking around the mechs. The Opar in the center had just lost an arm and a nice chunk of torso armor courtesy of the Umber's overloading reactor. They came into the top floor of the nearest building, Tre'sast looking out the shattered window. The mechs hadn't taken notice of their advance. He leaned out and fired off a grenade from his carbine. The missile struck the Umber in the short-range missile pod, the resulting explosion destroying the arm and dealing a large amount of damage to it's side armor. It turned, staring them down. Keysis floored, hoping to be missed in the resultant spray of plasma fire. Fortunately, however, the shots never came. A moment before the mech opened fire, a great roar sounded out, accompanied by four explosions to the back-side armor of the mech. It toppled over, not able to recover from the odd angle of impact. Where the explosions hit, there were four gaping holes in the mech. As the Opar turned to see what the assailant was, another volley of shells struck, the Opar going critical from the explosion. The Umber struggled to it's feet, it's balance system obviously damaged. Just as it was almost upright, another four shells struck it, causing it to go critical as well. After a few moment, the Photos saw what was responsible. A set of five Thanatoses rumbled into view, the guns of the front tank smoking."One tank did all that?" Keysis breathed. The hatch on the front tank popped open, a Photos rising out, banging his elbow on the pintle-mounted PSC. "Sorry we took so long, got held up by a few spunky scouts!" The Photos called out, looking up towards the infantry in the tall, ruined building. Tre'sast came from the wall, sliding down the ruined debris to the ground and walking up to the tank."Well, I'm just happy to see you, that thing was about to lay into us." Tre'sast said, noting the four large-caliber Autocannons mounted on the turret of the tank."Say, where are the sponsons on this thing? Every tank design of ours I've ever seen has sponson mounts..." Tre'sast noted. The Photos in the tank chuckled."If this thing had sponson mounts it'd be so heavy it'd be a miracle to get it to move. This things 120 tons as it is, sponsons would probably add about 20 more to that, so the Thanatos is a bit of an exception to that rule." The tank column ground to a halt, and the Photos hopped onto the main chassis, then again down to the ground. " 'Name's Ignos, Field Commander of the 37th Armored Brigade, Thanatos Division.""I can tell." Tre'sast said, gently kicking the tread of the huge tank. Ignos disconnected his helmet and removed it, the two optic lenses going dark."Ah, fresh air. It's so stuffy and hot in that thing it's not even funny." He said, the rest of the crew having powered down the tank and began climbing out."Wait, I thought there were more mechs to take down, why are you guys shutting down?" Tre'sast asked, confused."They called us off, they're sending in air units to take them down, the tanks are too valuable to loose en-masse to these things." He said leaning against the tank, setting his helmet on the hull next to him."You guys are some glorious bastards, striding around out here in these things. We grunts are out here humping all over the place and getting shot up on a daily basis. Kinda makes me regret my career choice." Tre'sast chuckled, setting his Carbine down against the tank and pulling his pack off his back. He fumbled around a moment."You got anything good to trade in that thing?" He inquired."Why?" Ignos asked, curious."Well, I've got a novel and a chocolate bar up for trades here..." He said, fumbling through the pack more. "Got some excess nutri-bars too, if you want some.""What's the book?" Ignos asked, to which Tre'sast handed it too him for his review."Mm. One of my favorite authors. I've got a few packs of chewing gum, I'll give you three for it?""That's a deal right there. What about the chocolate bar?""What? You're trading a chocolate bar? What's wrong with you?""I'm allergic, can't have it. Probably shouldn't even be carrying it around with me, to be honest.""I'll give you a pair of B-Socket batteries for it, deal?""Deal."A few minutes later, Tre'sast approached his squad, a smug grin pasted on his face, though his helmet hid it. Braes, one of the riflemen of the five-man squad, was streched out a bit, cleaning his rifle. Tre'sast removed his helmet and sat down."What happened over there, Lieutenant? That grin's immortal." He asked without looking up from his gun."Check THIS out." Tre'sast said, tossing him a pack of gum. His head snapped from his rifle to the pack of gum he snatched from the air. "Lucky ass! What'd you get it for?""You mean got them for, I've got three packs. And I got them for that old book I've been lugging around for, what is it, nine months now?""Three packs of gum for a book!?! Braes exclaimed disbelievingly. "Musta been one great book.""It was his favorite author. Also got a pair of B-Socket batteries. Not much but at least we can get that portable video player Keysis has with him working and actually do something fun one of these nights." Tre'sast said, popping a piece of gum into his mouth."Heh, beats the usual much of nothing." Braes chuckled, tossing the other pack of gum back.Tre'sast was unusual for a Lieutenant. While his service record was average, he was a rare case of Lieutenant that hadn't suffered a wound yet. Most Lieutenants had been wounded some time throughout their service, and the ones that hadn't could probably be counted on ten fingers, through the entire army. This wasn't to say Tre'sast was a coward, he was merely lucky. That and he knew how to use cover, rather than being all gung-ho about it. He had a tendency to look upon Keysis, the rookie who was just out of training, as a younger brother.After a time, the entire street had turned into a small campground, the tanks lined up out of the way of the street and their crews, along with the mixed Standard and Opairis infantry, were all arranged around a decent-sized campfire. They sat talking and telling stories of various battles and engagements they had been in, sharing advice for the newer replacements, and generally just having a friendly old time.Within a few hours everyone had found someplace to lay out and go to sleep, while a few people kept watch. Tre'sast and Keysis volunteered for the job."So I was talking to Braes earlier, I got some batteries today to run your little portable vidplayer.""Oh, that's good. It'll be some well-needed distraction.""So, how you holding up?""Well, I've been doing better. I find every day I'm a little less scared. I still find it crazy how the rest of you guys have such a nonchalant way about it. I suppose I'll get like that eventually, but there's still that fear of getting shot at that makes you skittish, y'know? Even though I know full well most infantry weapons can't punch through the armor, I still get worried. Then here recently, fighting against these big old mechs, I've been quite worried.""Yeah, I don't much like it either. It's pretty much one shot and out with those things, it's a matter of making sure you don't get hit in the first place. You haven't had the fun of going up against the Shadow yet, trust me buddy, that's a whole new level of not fun, when you have those bastards coming at you, shots just pinging off them, their shots downing your buddies with one shot...if there's ANYTHING in this galaxy to be scared of, it's that. That's where the guy before you bit it, not to freak you out. We were deployed on Kraein, a border world, and we were locked in battle with Shadow forces there to recover some technology of theirs. Bit it right here." He pointed at the space right above the top optic lens, where his forehead would be. "Left a hole the size of a .50 fracti-credit...I'd still like to find out who coined it that, pun intended." He chuckled. The two of them went all evening without seeing a thing, lucky for the entire group.